Evaluating cattle

Cattle sources

Cattle from closed-herds have low immunity to respiratory disease. These cattle have little contact to outside cattle prior to the feedlot. They typically do well for the first feeding period but later break with respiratory disease, which cause high death and disease rates. Modified-live vaccines prior to shipping and quick processing with like products can calves from closed-herds.

Examine incoming cattle

Consider the following questions discussed by Pollreisz et al. 1996.

Are the cattle coughing excessively when unloading?

Are there nose or eye discharges? If so, is it clear and watery or pus-like?

Are the cattle calm or excited?

Are any cattle away from the bunch with arched backs and heads down?

Do any of the cattle have a fever?

How long have they been on the truck?

How many sources are they from?

Keep detailed records of these answers to help you fit a health conditioning program. Dehorning, castrating and vaccinating cattle before shipping reduces death and disease in the feedlot. Always assess the cost-benefit relationships.

Transit weight loss and disease risk

Cattle lose 0.61 percent of their BW for every 100 miles during transport. Fifty-three percent of that loss comes from the body and 47 percent from digestive tract water loss.

Lack of feed and water accounts for 66 percent of weight loss during transit. But pre-shipment feed and care differences plus handling stresses also add to these weight losses. Calves weaned and then shipped to a new place will lose more weight than calves weaned and given time to adjust to their new diet.

Overnight weight loss is higher for calves fed grass or silage diets than those fed a concentrate diet.

Calves are more prone to disease in the feedlot if they lost a lot of weight during transport. Cattle losing more than 7 percent BW during transport are highly stressed and at high risk for disease.

The time of day you unload calves at the feedlot may affect disease rate despite transit time. Cole et al. 1988 found that calves fasted, hauled for 12 hours and unloaded at 8:00 p.m., had greater disease and death rates than calves fasted, hauled for 24 hours and unloaded at 8:30 am. Calves unloaded in the morning rested and recovered from transit during the day. Calves unloaded in the late evening remained restless and stressed more.

Poor calf health will add to upset rumen function caused by fasting during transit. Rumen function can remain poor for five to seven days after re-feeding, which is why it’s hard to get incoming cattle started on feed.

Care tips for incoming cattle

Place feed bunks and water tanks along pen fence lines so the cattle must walk past them. Cattle usually aren‘t familiar with feedlot settings, especially calves weaned and pulled from pasture. Cattle tend to circle the pens to find a way out and won’t find water tanks or feed bunks placed in the center.

Clean the feedlot building, feed bunks and water tanks before the cattle arrive.

Provide clean bedding where it’s needed.

If possible, place receiving pens around grassy areas to reduce stress and illness in the cattle.

Incoming cattle tend to eat poorly during the first few days in the feedlot. These cattle often eat less than 1 percent of their body weight (BW), especially if they have high disease rates.

Make sure the cattle eat enough to maintain their weight. You can adjust diet nutrient content for different intakes and expected gain, see table 1.

Right away, work to repair cattle health and strength and improve rumen function. Cattle will regain normal feed intake only after a 21-day receiving period, especially long-haul cattle.

Table 1. Needs of a 400-lb calf at different rates of gaina

Gain, lb/day

Protein, %

NEm, MCal/100 lb DMb

NEg, MCal/100 lb DMc

Calcium, %

Phosphorus, %

Calf consumes 1% BW (4 lb)

0

15

95

0

0.3

0.3

0.5

21.2

128

61

0.55

0.5

Calf consumes 2% BW (8 lb)

0

7

48

0

0.16

0.16

1

13

76

46

0.31

0.29

2

15.2

105

70

0.59

0.46

Calf consumes 3% BW (12 lb)

1

9.2

32

0

0.11

0.11

2

10.5

65

20

0.31

0.28

2.5

11.1

80

49

0.48

0.35

a Adapted from Hucheson 1993.

b Net energy for maintenance.

c Net energy for gain.

Receiving diets

Feeding good quality grass hay with a 50 to 75 percent concentrate mix is the basis for a receiving diet. You can feed calves and yearlings a relatively high-energy receiving diet. You must feed free-choice grass hay during the first week to stimulate eating.

You can feed 1 to 2 pounds of concentrate per head on day one. For the next two days, increase this amount by 1 pound per head daily. Thus the grain intake on the third day will be 3 to 4 pounds per head.

Whole corn fed with a protein supplement (3:1) and long hay works well as a basic receiving diet. Top dressing a grain mixture over the hay in the feed bunk can enhance energy intake.

Pritchard 1993 described an alternate system to start yearling cattle on a finishing diet. He suggests feeding the finishing diet the second day after arrival at 2.3 times maintenance level. Increase this to 2.5, 2.7 and 2.9 times maintenance, respectively, at weekly intervals. He used an ionophore in this system. This system reduces roughage handling and uses simpler feed batching.

Goodrich and Meiske 1979 suggests feeding a preformed protein during the first 2 to 3 weeks.

Research

Fluharty and Loerch 1991 looked at the effect of crude protein (CP) level, ruminal bypass protein sources and added fat in receiving steer calf diets. They compared soybean meal (SBM) and blood meal (BM) at 12 versus 14 percent with 0 or 2 percent added fat. A gain response occurred with higher protein levels in BM-based diets during the first 28 days in the feedlot.

Research in New Mexico shows that newly arrived calves fed 14 percent protein diets with SBM, BM or fish meal for protein had no benefit to higher ruminal escape protein. In that study, calf feed intake was 1.5 percent of BW during the first 2 week, which cancelled any good from escape protein.

Zinn and Owens 1993 fed 435-pound calves a base diet of:

18 percent alfalfa hay

10 percent sudangrass hay

61 percent steam flaked corn

2.5 percent yellow grease

2.5 percent supplement, which contained either urea with or without ruminal escape protein (REP) blend

The 2 percent REP blend had the greatest response with 13.4 and 8.4 percent increases in daily gain and feed efficiency, respectively, over calves fed the base diet. There were no performance gains for feeding higher protein. Table 2 shows an overview of diet options.

These diets show the need to feed 14 percent CP from preformed protein sources. But the need for bypass protein isn’t well proven. With extreme feed intake depression, you may need to increase protein levels as high as 24 percent to adapt to the low intake.

Table 3 outlines suggested vitamin and mineral levels. You may need to provide more nutrients to newly received cattle with low feed intakes. But Wagner 1993 noted you can feed normal levels once feed intake recovers. The FDA considers feeding higher levels for longer as an extra label use.

Chang and Mowat 1992 found that feeding 4 milligrams of chromium daily increased daily gain by 30 percent in stressed calves than without supplement. Chromium had no effect on disease rates in calves.

Vitamin E and selenium

Vitamin E with selenium can help in stress situations. Supplement receiving diets with at least 0.1 ppm of selenium with 100 IU vitamin E per head daily. Wagner et al. 1991 suggests that feeding 25 to 30 IU vitamin E per pound of dry matter is enough for most cases.

Wagner et al. also reported on Kansas research. This work showed receiving calves supplemented B-vitamins and vitamin E had a positive response compared to calves not supplemented vitamin E or vitamin E alone.

Vitamin B3 (niacin)

Probiotics and yeast

Many feed additives have the potential to reduce stress in receiving cattle. Wagner et al. 1991 suggests that probiotics better helped cattle trucked over 290 miles than those hauled shorter distances. Cole et al. 1992 found that morbid calves responded well to yeast culture.

Antibiotics

Producers often use antibiotics in receiving programs including:

Chlortetracycline

Oxytetracycline

Bacitracin

Tylosin

Wagner 1993 noted that only tylosin is approved for use with monensin, and only oxytetracycline for use with lasalocid. You can feed antibiotics at 1 gram per head daily for 21 to 28 days.

Studies discussed by Wagner 1993 showed that feeding aureomycin-sulfamethazine for 14 to 28 d gave consistent results in a few trials.

Coccidiostats

You can use the following coccidiostats to control coccidiosis:

Amprollium

Decoquinate

Lasalocid

Monensin

Ionophores

Wagner 1993 noted that cattle must get enough medication to control coccidiosis. This may be a concern for newly received cattle with low feed intakes. Hutcheson 1990 reported decoquinate (0.58 milligram per kilogram BW) in receiving diets increased the cattle’s appetite.

Ionophores can control coccidiosis but may reduce feed intake. Any reduced feed intake lessens after 14 days and doesn’t harm overall calf performance. Ionophores also enhance feed efficiency in growing-finishing cattle.

Ionophore may interact with potassium levels in receiving diets. Hutcheson 1989 observed that high potassium levels fed with lasalocid cancelled the feed efficiency effects. In that study, cattle responded well to 0.5 percent potassium and 0.25 percent sodium fed with lasalocid (30 grams per ton).

Hutcheson also noted that ionophores enhance absorption of macrominerals, which may alter the cattle’s mineral needs.

Energy is the first limiting element for newly arrived feedlot cattle. Supplementing fat can increase energy in the diet. Cole and Hutcheson 1987 found that 4 percent fat blend added to 13.4 percent CP diets increased feed intake of stressed newly arrived cattle for only the first 14 days.

Conditioning feedlot cattle

Types of vaccination products and schedules will vary with certain diseases and cost. Mills 1990 summarized the practices of a large Mississippi farm. They vaccinated young calves scheduled for preconditioning with the following:

IBR

PI3 4-way blackleg

Haemophilus somnus

In this example, preconditioning also included:

Deworming

Castrating

Implanting

Giving an oral probiotic gel

They didn’t dehorn calves at this first processing.

Smith 1984 outlined a schedule for receiving cattle.

Take temperatures on stale or stressed cattle upon entry or the following morning.

This may not be a good indicator

Give IBR, PI3, BVD, Lepto-pomona and 4-way clostridia

Implant, deworm, treat for external parasites.

Tip horns, castrate, bob tails and brand or eartag.

The author suggests revaccinating light calves and stale or green cattle with IBR, PI3 and BVD five to seven days after arriving.

Reimplant following manufacturers’ directions.

Evaluate how often newly arrived calves need retreatment to assess the economic benefits.

Henderson 1990 suggests that most cattle regain their health after a 3- to 5-day treatment program. Try to find chronic problems early to better manage treatment costs.